2228 Intuit - TurboTax Consumer Reviews and Complaints

The prompts several times asked for upgrade to 'max benefits' in such a way as to be misconstrued by consumer. I consider this a form of 'bait and switch'. I am questioning whether I trust my personal information with TurboTax anymore!

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Tony of Tulsa, OK
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 21, 2018

I have used TurboTax for almost 10 years now and have been alright with them even though in the past they have taken several updates to finally get their system to work properly. I have had the same tax situations for several years now. Suddenly for this year, to do the same thing that I have done in previous years, I get hit with an additional $128 in cost above the cost I already paid. According to their system, I had to upgrade or not be able to file with them. Very, very sad. Be prepared to be screwed by them if possible. A few years back they tried this and there was such a noise made they retracted. I thought I was saving money in using them but no more. If they can rip you off, they will.

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Be very careful when using TurboTax. They advertise FREE. When you log in they ask some questions about your situation and depending on what you check they offer the "BEST" product for you and highlight it and dull out all others. At the bottom of each choice they pick for you which you will have to pay for, it says "Start for FREE".

I checked Start for Free but at the end the charge was $39.99 and what the hell I had already spent the time putting in the information so I decided to just pay the $39.99. When I hit the pay button it charged me $149.99. I immediately called customer service and said it was a mistake and they said "SORRY" but all online purchases are final. No refund. I called several times over several days and always got the same response. After many attempts at resolution they had a "supervisor" call me. Who said "Sorry all online purchases are final and there was no way he could refund it even if he wanted to." BS. There is always a way to refund an unhappy customer. They just don't want to do it. Their whole system is geared to upsell you and take your money. Intuit has gotten so big and so greedy they do not care about you only your money. So be careful. Never put in any CC info unless you are willing to pay whatever they charge.

TurboTax promised us a refunding over 500$. Everything was confirmed and ready to go. We had not heard from the company about our status only to find out we now owed 50. They made a mistake, they scammed us into paying for their service promising this money. SCAM!

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rob of Lutz, FL
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 20, 2018

Bad, Bad, Bad. I have filed with them for 8 years. Every year it is a hassle to access my past tax return. This year for 2017 it is the worst. Computer site says I did not file with Turbo. Yet my return is on their computers. Yet they cannot access it. I stored my just where they said and it does not work also. Samo, Samo each year. Junk.

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J of Goldsboro, NC
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 20, 2018

This year I decided to get my refund on the Turbo Visa reloadable card. It said 5-10 business days. It's been almost a month and still haven't received my card. When I call I can't get past the automated menu, it just says I have the wrong info and kicks me off the call. If I do get a human on the phone I can't understand them. My refund is scheduled to be deposited in 2 days and I can't touch that money. I'm scared to order a new card and it'll be another month! I should have done my research before deciding on this card because I've found so many complaints from other people in the same situation - never receiving their card and the automated message saying their information is incorrect.

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Sheila of Wichita, KS
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 20, 2018

I have been using TurboTax to do my tax return. This year I paid TurboTax to transfer last years tax information and filed. When I got to the direct deposit it would not allow me to split the refund into two separate accounts without buying a savings bond. I should not be forced to buy a bond in order to put my refund into two separate accounts. Tried to get help, HA! Tried to get my money back since I'm obviously not going to file through them, can never get a human being. Will have to dispute it with my credit card. Terrible service, and can't believe they can try to force you to buy a savings bond!

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Ben of Tacoma, WA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 19, 2018

For the past several years, I've been using TaxAct... inexpensive, easy to use and follow and it's done the job for me. I'd been paying for a Deluxe version all those years. This year I decided to try something different, and landed on TurboTax. This was due in part, to the fact that I'd been a member of Mint, an associated product of Intuit, an excellent one at that (also, because it was free). Shortly after logging in for the 1st time, I opted for the enhanced service: 24/7 Tax Return access, Specialist Support and Docs Storage. I found $19.99 to be a very fair price for these nice add-ons.

The Process was simple, easy to follow and excellent all around. Filing? Even easier than that. My particular case is somewhere between "standard" and "difficult". In addition to more than one W2, also had some 1099s, mortgage, property taxes & a few other layers of complexity. I've seen some negative reviews here, I don't understand them. I'm no smarter than the average bear out there, yet for me, TurboTax online was fun, easy, and excellent. I would encourage others to opt for the $19.99 upgrade and enjoy the benefits (and cheap piece of mind) it provides. So yes, I'll be using TurboTax again next year. It'll be even easier then, as I've got this year's returns and all data/info in my "docs" file to pull from. These guys have my strong recommendation.

Previously I have used TurboTax and filed easily; this year the program directed me to sign up for their "Deluxe" filing because of some new info I had put into the system, that ended up being my mistake, and after discovering this I was unable to remove "Deluxe" filing (and pay $40.00 for a service I did not need or want) unless I completely cleared all the info I had just put in. After calling customer service, the woman I talked to said there is nothing she can do and I would have to erase my entire return and start over, that's the only option if you upgrade and change your mind or you upgrade by accident.

I will no longer be using TurboTax because they basically force their customers to admit defeat and pay the mark up they don't want, rather than putting in all of their information again. I don't give my money to businesses like this, I don't appreciate how hard it is to change what you're paying for or change what you need from their program. It's a racket. At least I got to talk to a human on the phone.

I've been using this service for years now and have always paid for the deluxe. This year, I realized that my refund comes late every SINGLE year!!! And I pay for services!!! I paid them 80$ this year. However, the family that I referred to TurboTax use the free version and get their refund EARLY. And I can't get ahold of anyone to ask about why my funds are held up every year.

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3 people found this review helpful

Sally of Newberg, OR
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 16, 2018

Paying for Premium product which saves all previous years' tax returns for me and incorporates info from those when doing current year returns. Alarmingly, Turbotax numbers this year (2018) for my 2016 return filed in 2017 are randomly different! They have my state tax amount I paid as different than what I actually filed and they calculated last year for that return. Also, they have Education credits as a different number now than what was actually filed and what they calculated last year. When I called to inquire, they blamed "Mr. Donald Trump" and "his tax reform". They said glitches are expected but not to worry; trust them; "all will be okay".

They blamed IRS for still implementing changes to the 2017 taxes, making it difficult to have all the correct forms available (not true and wouldn't be relevant to my issue). Offered no solution. I asked for supervisor to call me back because the wait was getting too long to have them talk to me; never got a callback but did get an email saying my case was closed. I cannot trust them to do my taxes for 2017 if they can't keep a simple file of the work they did on 2016 return. Am going to H&R Block.

TT has always easily found the 1099's for both my IRA and personal investment accounts, with just the broker's name and account number. This year the personal account is OK, but entering the account number for the IRA (and the document ID) results in a "bad login". I have the 1099's but choose not to begin keying the info, since I paid Intuit to do it again this year. It appears that Intuit has no support and if you search for it, you'll most likely reach some sleazy character with a very heavy accent, like I experienced when seeking Malwarebytes support. That was a dangerous situation. It seems that TurboTax this year is mostly a big mess! Each year since 2004 until now I easily had my return completed and filed in less than 90 minutes. I am so disappointed in '18.

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6 people found this review helpful

Kr of Carlsbad, CA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 15, 2018

The disappointing decline in product performance rests on the continual delay of delivering one form within the product so that the return can't be e-filed. The 8606T Federal Form is available on the Federal Government website and no doubt through many other tax return preparation services but TurboTax has promised, yet failed to deliver it for a month. Every week there is a new change to the forms availability and it is still not here. I'm done waiting and I'm will find a new filing service next year. Intuit fails to be the best!

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7 people found this review helpful

Mary of Dickinson, TX
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 15, 2018

2017 tax return paid by credit card while waiting for TurboTax to get disaster form 1040 on their system, received an email saying forms ready, filed and received a return amount. Later, I received an email from them saying rejected internally. I was on the phone for 2.5 hours on a Saturday, they lied several times, said the IRS rejected it, then I asked to speak to a supervisor. Waited longer, she admitted it never went to the IRS. They tried to get me to file by mail instead with an amount on the return dropped for no apparent reason. The supervisor said she was going to transfer me over to the financial side of TurboTax to resolve the issue??? They transferred me by hanging up after waiting that long. I couldn’t file if I wanted to because of an internal issue with their software, they refused to refund my 40.00. Never again will I custom them. Done with them entirely. I also warned them about how they treat their customers. DO NOT USE. BUYER BEWARE!!!

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7 people found this review helpful

Carol of Allentown, PA
Verified Reviewer
Verified Buyer

Original review: Feb. 14, 2018

I recently filed my taxes using TurboTax which I have used since 2014. I spent about 4 hours filling out the form, checking and rechecking the info. It then took me almost an hour to read through all of the information for finishing up & eFiling both Federal & State Tax. I used to mail the PA tax form but because of all of the identity crimes, I eFiled the last 2 years & spent the $19.95 which I thought were fees dictated by PA. TurboTax does not explain why there is a 19.95 charge and trying to reach them on the phone is futile.

Today I decided to check the PA.Gov website to see exactly how they described the fee. Lo & behold, I found that there was NO charge for eFiling! I called my credit card company and disputed the TurboTax charge as deceptive charges. The dispute was granted. SO lessons learned: Check to see if your state charges for eFiling. You too will probably find that you can eFile for free on your state's website. If you already paid deceptive charges, try to file a dispute with your CC company. Consider using another Tax program as I will do next year. By the way, TurboTax has no record of my 2016 tax file even though I did use it. Also, I could not transfer records from Its Deductible.

Had to upgrade as I have a mortgage. When I filed, it pushed you to have the fee taken from your refund, yet they neglect to tell you that doing so will incur another $40 charge. So now my refund is nearly $100 less and for what? Very disappointing TurboTax. Previously loyal customer lost.

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6 people found this review helpful

Laura of Yazoo City, MS
Verified Reviewer
Verified Buyer

Original review: Feb. 13, 2018

Four hours of wrangling. Two calls to customer service. Two different reps. 75% helpful. Partly due to having to enforce an awful policy. This company is trying to extort money to let you view your own returns. It's dirty. This is not the TurboTax I have used since the beginning of the millenia. They changed and are like so many other companies like NEAT who try to sell you one thing and then later on they try and charge you again and again and keep recharging you for it under the 'subscription' banner. "Here let me let you peek at your returns which I have kept safe for you but it's gonna cost you a huge upgrade or 30 dollars." Criminal. Date hostage. This is what drives your customers into the arms of another company.

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6 people found this review helpful

Dawn of Las Vegas, NV
Verified Reviewer
Verified Buyer

Original review: Feb. 12, 2018

I started an application for taxes with TurboTax Intuit and it asked me if I wanted the plus edition for 19.99 or the one for 39.99. So assuming I might need help I bought the 19.99 version. Not only did I not need to pay 19.99 it also prompted me to pay 39.99 for a processor fee. It said because I bought the 19.99 version and opted to have it taken out of my federal refund, my only option was to pay a processor fee or do it by mail. So much for free! I should have cancelled the whole thing and started over elsewhere. But by then it was already a long and tedious process. I am chalking up to experience and writing this to help someone avoid paying 60.00 more than they need to.

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10 people found this review helpful

David of Saratoga Sprigns, NY
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 12, 2018

I'll get right to the point: the software is good and easy to use, but the pricing is extremely misleading. I'm a 25 year old Software Engineer who has seen his fair share of misleading marketing for software, but TurboTax takes the cake. This is the second and last year that I have been duped by them. Spent the time to fill out my taxes, only to get to the very end to find all these surprise fees just to file one extra form. I filed with Credit Karma Tax (for free) and received the exact same tax refund as I would have with TurboTax. They were very upfront about which forms they supported and which they did not.

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10 people found this review helpful

Robert of Somerset, NJ
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 12, 2018

My experience with the actual service (filling out/submitting taxes) is positive. The payments page is deceptive. Filing Federal taxes is supposed to be free, you only pay for state. When you get to the payments page they offer you 2 choices, Deluxe and an enhanced service which costs even more. The page is setup to look like you must accept one. Thinking Deluxe (cheapest option) is the basic one I choose that, only to be billed for both State and Federal.

After discussing the charge with customer support, it seems you can bypass that page by hitting 'next', but it is not obvious you can do that, page designed to look like you must choose one of the 2 payment options. The customer support rep said since I didn't use any of the advanced features and the selection was made in error (once I pointed out that yes it's my fault, but the page is deceptive on purpose), they would credit me the 'Deluxe' portion I didn't use. I was satisfied with the resolution.

Two days later I receive an email that they are NOT giving me the refund that the customer service agent confirmed I was getting. I understand the mistake was mine, but I do not appreciate their deceptive website which is designed in a way to fool people into thinking they are picking the basic option which should be the free Federal file. The worst part is their customer service agent saying I will get a refund, then denying the refund a few days later hoping I won't notice. Nice tool but deceitful and unethical company.

I have used taxslayer.com for three years and was persuaded to try TurboTax. I was so upset when I got done, I will never use them again. They said it was free and after too many questions, and verifications, and the system shutting down every 20 minutes, they said I had to pay after all that in order to file. I am so disappointed, and will never recommend them again. And, I actually got $600.00 less, making the same money I made for the last 4 years.

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9 people found this review helpful

Charles of Holiday, FL
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 11, 2018

I have used TurboTax for years. Never had a problem until now. IRS said they didn't send my complete file for the year 2015. Now they want me to upgrade to plus package to see my information to send it to the IRS. I call now they can't find my file. And it's never free like they advertise it to be. I paid $79.99 for audit protection and now they say I don't have it. SCAM.

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5 people found this review helpful

chris of Englewood, CO
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 11, 2018

Very misleading that you can file for $0. You are charged at the end of the return, ok that's fine but they charged me for the higher amount which I did not authorize. Easy is not always better. Thought I could save some money. Will continue to file on my own. They do not deserve one star but I have to put one star.

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7 people found this review helpful

tony of Maynard, MA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 10, 2018

TurboTax added a $39.99 extra fee to deduct their fee from the tax return and mislead their customers because they dont explain the fee. They charge another 39.99$ fee to e file the state taxes, and it is impossible to remove this extra fee.

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5 people found this review helpful

David of Harrisburg, PA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 9, 2018

First of all if you're not a low wage earner or file a very simple return filing will not be free. Anything out of the ordinary you will have to upgrade. I only wanted to file my federal return but somehow I must have pushed the wrong key and was made to file state taxes also which cost more money. I could not back out of it. I tried to contact someone about this and it was a waste of time. This happened last year. I will never be scammed again by this company.

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6 people found this review helpful

Becky of Chico, CA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 9, 2018

I've used TurboTax for a number of years, but this year will be my last. I guess I could live with my simple interest income triggering another form and thus negating the free part of the filing. And I do like the ease with which I was able to input information, automatically in most cases. Here's where the stars began to fade. I wanted to pay for the filings out of my refund, but it was not made clear at all that there was a fairly substantial fee for doing so.

Fortunately, someone from the help desk was able to walk me through going back and changing to paying with a credit card. But throughout the process of actually getting the forms filed, I was forced to undo the upgrading to a more expensive plan. I was never given the choice to opt into a higher cost plan; instead, I was forced to undo the selection of that plan. It would have been VERY easy to have accidentally opted for the higher plan, AND I was being manipulated to choose the plan in a heavy-handed way. So, while it is a breeze getting the info entered into the forms, it is a nightmare the rest of the way through. You just lost a customer, TurboTax.

Okay so I have been using TurboTax for the last 8 years. I have just overlooked their charges that are really ridiculous anyway. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, we were eligible for the Freedom Edition. That means, that we qualified for free filing... Everything was fine. I sat and spent hours going through my tax forms making sure I had everything and double-checking all entries. At the very end when I clicked on get ready to file, they had a plus benefits charge of $29.99. Well, the problem is, there is absolutely no way to remove it... So, they suggest to go back and delete all the information you entered and start over! First of all, I did that... It was still there! There's absolutely no way to remove it and so I just got suckered into pain $30 and, if you want to just have the $30 taken out of your refund, they charge you another 39.99!

Taking advantage of people by not being able to remove the Plus benefits which I do now not want, they are not needed! I called the rude customer service representative regarding this issue to ask them for a service code that I could put into maybe offset it because it did not work, they said I had to clear and start over! What good did it do me when I did it? I never opted to have the damn thing anyway! I want my money back. Again, they just added on and there's no way to remove it.

I am very pleased with TurboTax as I just used it to file my taxes today. Very smooth process with appropriate questions asked. Was able to get tax credits from the feds and state for solar panels we had installed this last year, something that TaxACT could not do as they didn't have the "current forms". Was able to finish in about 1.5 hours with no stress. I used the deluxe version as I itemize and it was quick and easy. TaxACT, on the other hand, was clunky to use and very stressful, as forms were either not there or hard to access. TurboTax was simply a wonderful experience for a modest fee of $71. TaxACT was asking for over $80 for a much less impressive product that is now way overpriced and underperforms. Thank you TurboTax!

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5 people found this review helpful

Heather of South Pasadena, CA
Verified Reviewer

Original review: Feb. 7, 2018

I submitted my taxes online and had an issue with TurboTax not notifying me that they need to prove my identity. When I could see my returns were not progressing like in prior years it took me 6 hours, 8 different phone representatives, 3 that hung up on me and in the end no one that would admit the software had an issue and my return were sitting in limbo. At one point I had a representative say I was threatening her because I asked to speak to her superior. She said she didn’t have one.

Bottom line is there is no service from TurboTax. Don’t waste your money because there is no support if needed with any self identified need. I didn’t want tax advice. I wanted my returns submitted as I paid them to do. Funny after my last call where I burst into tears did my returns suddenly become accepted by the IRS. This company is horrible. Never again.

Helping my college student daughter to file her return. Everywhere you look are the words FREE. She has wages, tips and interest from a savings account. That is it, nothing crazy or complicated. Her total refund was to be $40. Turbo Tax comes in at very end after we spend 1 hour entering information and says because she gets tips this is a "complicated" return and we can only file with the Deluxe Version at a cost of $39, wiping out the entire return for a 19 year old. WHAT A SCAM. Tips make this complicated. Intuit and Turbo Tax should be ashamed of their advertising and this blatant bait and switch. Moving on to another service and certainly will tell my story to friends and neighbors. Nice marketing job Intuit.

Intuit expert review by Melissa Hincha-Ownby

TurboTax is one of Intuit's many financial services products. Intuit, which was founded in 1983, has kept TurboTax at the top of the tax software industry. In 2013, more than 26 million taxpayers across the nation used a TurboTax service.

Portability:
Intuit’s TurboTax software is available on a variety of platforms including web-based, local software installations and even a dedicated iPad app.

Expert advice:
TurboTax customers can chat live with a tax expert at no extra charge.

Business support:
A Business version is available for use by multi-member LLCs, partnerships, S corporations, C corporations, and estates and trusts.

Review:
Intuit removed the option to have a return reviewed by a Certified Public Accountant, a benefit that set it apart from competitors.

Customer service:
Contacting customer service by phone is challenging; the TurboTax website requires customers to use a web form to provide contact information and view online help before releasing a phone number.

Best for:
Sole Proprietors, Small Business Owners, Taxpayers with Special Situations

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